iMac upgrade advice mid-2011

[Max Fire Fox]

Hi,

A familiar give me a fully functional Imac mid 2011, I think he want to call me for the apple side?, I am a pc guy, assemble from scratch all my computers since I was 16(have 42 now), so I like do some Challenger things, and now this Imac will be my toy, I read many things here, and just wanna check if I learn all I need to upgrade this machine, and all advice are welcome:

1. Best cpu is i7-2600s (is cheap and easy to find here on Portugal)
2. Is require a cable with temperature sensor to upgrade to ssd (any advice on cheap one to buy will be appreciate)
3. Upgrade dvd to second hdd just require a laptop hdd tray (laptop dvd format tray)
4. About GPU, I really like to give this machine a better GPU, I read some pages on a GPU upgrade thread here, and really need this advice, what is the best GPU more mac "supported" this machine can use, and still like a regular Imac, dont miss startup screen and errors, and will be nice if support Monterey.

Sorry my English, is not my native language, and thanks for any advice.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Yours is a 21.5" model.
1. No comment
2. Temperature sensor is not essential. Use software solution like Mac Fan Control.
3. No comment.
4. 21.5" model is limited to the small MXM-A graphic card. To my understanding, the available cards which can get you to Monterey are
AMD: W5170m or M5100 (cheaply available); WX4130 (rarer), WX4150 (super rare and expensive, need components fix to work on 2011 model)
nVidia: Quadro K1100m or K2100m (limited to 2D, no 3D acceleration)

 

[Max Fire Fox]

Yours is a 21.5" model.
1. No comment
2. Temperature sensor is not essential. Use software solution like Mac Fan Control.
3. No comment.
4. 21.5" model is limited to the small MXM-A graphic card. To my understanding, the available cards which can get you to Monterey are
AMD: W5170m or M5100 (cheaply available); WX4130 (rarer), WX4150 (super rare and expensive, need components fix to work on 2011 model)
nVidia: Quadro K1100m or K2100m (limited to 2D, no 3D acceleration)

Thank you for help, on GPU side is there any of this cards you think I can upgrade and let system more genuine possible(boot and logo(maybe with a bios card update), I will try Monterey but if I dont like it will still ruining in high sierra?).

I think ssd cable is not too expensive but if have more cheaper than owc ones whit temp sensor it will be nice, dont find any one on aliexpress, normally they have this things very cheap, if system keep cooling whit apple normal sensors it be better.